I'd never heard of this until now, so I apologize if this is a repost. Just something to be aware of if you're around children at the pool this summer.

Johnny Jackson, a 10-year-old American boy from South Carolina, died at home on Sunday from "dry drowning" more than an hour after going swimming and walking home with his mother. The sad event highlights a little known danger that parents and child carers should be aware of, that drowning can kill hours after being submersed in water.

Johnny's mother, Cassandra Jackson, told NBC News in a story broadcast on the TODAY show on Thursday that:

"I've never known a child could walk around, talk, speak and their lungs be filled with water."

Johnny must have got some water in his lungs while he was swimming in his local pool at Goose Greek, South Carolina. He didn't show any signs of respiratory distress, but he had an accident in the pool and "soiled himself", said the TODAY report. He then walked home with his mother and sister.

His mother said she bathed him and he told her he felt sleepy. When she went to check on him later she saw his face was covered in a "spongy white material". He was rushed to hospital but it was too late.

According to the latest figures, about 3,600 Americans died from drowning in 2005, said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including a small percentage that die up to 24 hours later because of water entering the respiratory system. A not insignificant number of the victims are children who died after having a bath.

Dr Daniel Rauch, pediatrician at New York University Langone Medical Center, who spoke to Meredith Vieira on the TODAY show, said there are three important signs that parents and carers should look out for: difficulty breathing, extreme tiredness, and changes in behaviour. All three symptoms result from the brain not getting enough oxygen because of water in the lungs.

It would seem that Johnny was showing two of these: tiredness and change in behaviour (the soiling accident in the pool). Rauch expressed sympathy for parents, because it is very difficult to spot these symptoms in children, especially small children, who can change mood very quickly and get tired easily from rushing around and playing.

However, if your child has these symptoms and has been swimming, you should take him or her to an emergency department to get checked out. If there is water in a lung, the doctors put a tube into the lung and force oxygen through under pressure. The lung then heals itself in time.

Drowning is a significant cause of disability and death, wrote Dr Suzanne Moore Shepherd in an article published in eMedicine earlier this year. Moore is Associate Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Director of Education and Research, PENN Travel Medicine.

According to Moore, drowning is defined as:

"death secondary to asphyxia while immersed in a liquid, usually water, or within 24 hours of submersion".

The phrase "within 24 hours of submersion" includes what has been more commonly termed "dry drowning", where the victim gets water in the lungs but does not drown straight away, like Johnny, they could walk home and die later.

It is not easy to get hold of statistics on drowning, because there has been confusion about what constitutes drowning, and bringing research together under one term.

At the 2002 World Congress on Drowning, held in Amsterdam, a group of experts suggested a new consensus definition for drowning in order to reduce the confusion over the large number of terms and definitions, currently exceeding 20, that have appeared in the literature. This would remove the terms "wet drowning, dry drowning, active or passive drowning, near-drowning, secondary drowning, and silent drowning" from the literature, said Moore.

Having a universal single definition would help to make the study and analysis of drowning in its various forms more effective, which would lead to better surveillance and prevention.

Unfortunately for Cassandra Jackson, this was not the case, and she probably wishes she had known earlier what she has learned since her son's tragic death. She said Johnny "was very loving, full of life", he was "my little man", she said.

Source:TODAYshow.com, eMedicine.com, CDC.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today

ArrowheadHawk

06-07-2008, 02:14 PM

Wow. That is horrible.

Baconeater

06-07-2008, 02:17 PM

Wow, I had no idea that was possible. Scary.

keg in kc

06-07-2008, 02:17 PM

I had no idea that was possible.

Easy 6

06-07-2008, 02:18 PM

Yeah, seen this on the news the other day...how sad...his very first time to the pool, :(. His poor mom was just heartbroken in the interview i watched.

Yeah, seen this on the news the other day...how sad...his very first time to the pool, :(. His poor mom was just heartbroken in the interview i watched.

I've never even heard of such a thing.

Be watchful, all of you parents.

I agree, but what the hell do you watch for? What kid doesn't seem to be drinking in half the pool when they swim? That's just flat scary.

StcChief

06-07-2008, 03:11 PM

new to me....how the hell.

Silock

06-07-2008, 03:13 PM

I agree, but what the hell do you watch for? What kid doesn't seem to be drinking in half the pool when they swim? That's just flat scary.

Especially when it says "They become fatigued." What kid DOESN'T after a day at the pool?

stlchiefs

06-07-2008, 03:18 PM

Especially when it says "They become fatigued." What kid DOESN'T after a day at the pool?

That's exactly what I was thinking. There are absolutely NO symptoms they outlined that a kid cannot easily exhibit after an afternoon at the pool. Scary thought for parents.

Demonpenz

06-07-2008, 03:29 PM

i've said it many times, the people who say everything happens for a reason can suck it

Bwana

06-07-2008, 03:30 PM

Wow, I had no idea that could happen.

Mr. Plow

06-07-2008, 03:46 PM

I'm not sure that I'm glad that I read that article. That just scares the crap out of me. Especially since my kids spent all day at the pool today.

jspchief

06-07-2008, 04:37 PM

meh. about the same odds of losing a child to dry drowning as winning the freakin Powerball.

I'm guessing more kids die every year on the drive to and from the pool. Tragic, but not exactly something that will keep me up at night.

FAX

06-07-2008, 04:43 PM

I've never heard of this. Ever.

FAX

jspchief

06-07-2008, 04:46 PM

I've never heard of this. Ever.

FAX
WHAT?

Tens of people die from this every year, and you've never even heard of it?

FAX

06-07-2008, 04:48 PM

Nope. Never, Mr. jspchief. I don't get out much.

A long time ago, I read a story in the traditional paper media about a guy who died from being hit on the head by a falling hedge apple, though.

FAX

Joie

06-07-2008, 06:18 PM

I'm not sure that I'm glad that I read that article. That just scares the crap out of me. Especially since my kids spent all day at the pool today.

I'm with you. My girls spend at least a few hours at the pool every day that weather permits (unless we have other plans of course).

Chief Pote

06-07-2008, 09:29 PM

i've said it many times, the people who say everything happens for a reason can suck it

I agree....not acceptable in any level in life.

Valiant

06-07-2008, 09:41 PM

Sucks..

But what was the white mossy stuff on his mouth??? Almost seems like that one podpeople movie..

KCwolf

06-07-2008, 10:00 PM

That shit is awful......never heard of it and never want to experience it. Sorry for the family involved.

FAX

06-07-2008, 10:04 PM

I'm having a little difficulty believing that the symptoms of "dry drowning" are as moderate or unassertive as this article makes them out to be.

It seems to me that, if your lungs are sufficiently full of water to lead to drowning, you would be exhibiting some respiratory distress.

FAX

Ari Chi3fs

06-08-2008, 01:10 AM

Well, everything happens for a reason.

HMc

06-08-2008, 03:24 AM

Having been a surflifesaver, i've seen plenty of kids have significant respiratory difficulty and then go on to be perfectly fine after oxygen is administered or they are treated at the hospital. I find it difficult that a ten year old could die after showing NO signs whatsoever.

Frankly, I think there's more to this than is being let on. Whether its that the mother saw signs but thought it was just a cough, or chose not to take him to hospital because she can't afford it, or whatever.

HMc

06-08-2008, 03:36 AM

One more thing, "dry drowning" is generally used to describe circumstances where fluid in the lungs was NOT the major inhibitant to oxygen uptake. If this kid's lungs were "full of water", then that's actually a fairly standard drowning. The fact that the victim isn't immersed in water might make it seem unusual, but it's actually fairly common.

An example of a bona fide dry drowning would be, if you were bitten by a bee on the inside of your throat (because it had crawled into your soda can, say) and the swelling blocked your airway.

milkman

06-08-2008, 07:04 AM

i've said it many times, the people who say everything happens for a reason can suck it

This post happened for a reason.

alnorth

06-08-2008, 09:52 AM

there are three important signs that parents and carers should look out for: difficulty breathing, extreme tiredness, and changes in behaviour. All three symptoms result from the brain not getting enough oxygen because of water in the lungs.

It would seem that Johnny was showing two of these: tiredness and change in behaviour (the soiling accident in the pool).

...

However, if your child has these symptoms and has been swimming, you should take him or her to an emergency department to get checked out.

If the kid is tired and changes behavior after being in water you take them to the ER? Gee, thats some brilliant advice there. If someone actually followed that, they would be rushing to the doctor shortly after every time the kid touched water.

Obviously difficulty breathing would be a big red flag, but if you dont have that, there's not a damn thing you can really expect a parent to do. No one short of a mythical "House"-like doctor would have spotted anything wrong with him.

FAX

06-08-2008, 10:00 AM

If the kid is tired and changes behavior after being in water you take them to the ER? Gee, thats some brilliant advice there. If someone actually followed that, they would be rushing to the doctor shortly after every time the kid touched water.

Obviously difficulty breathing would be a big red flag, but if you dont have that, there's not a damn thing you can really expect a parent to do. No one short of a mythical "House"-like doctor would have spotted anything wrong with him.

I agree with this, Mr. alnorth. Still, it's seems unreasonable to think that the boy was exhibiting no problematic symptoms (other than fatigue and poopishness).

My guess is a chlorine allergy or something.

FAX

chasedude

06-08-2008, 10:07 AM

Nope. Never, Mr. jspchief. I don't get out much.

A long time ago, I read a story in the traditional paper media about a guy who died from being hit on the head by a falling hedge apple, though.